With congestion pricing stop, New York City enters new era of economic gridlock

• The indefinite delay in New York City’s congestion pricing plan announced by New York State Governor Kathy Hochul this past week reveals dueling visions about the future of the city’s economy.
• In scrapping the $15 fee for daytime automobile commuters entering New York City at or below Manhattan’s 60th Street, Hochul and other officials cite concerns about the post-Covid economic recovery.
• Critics say a short-term focus on shoring up city finances after the pandemic is a mistake and will end up costing the city billions.

As U.S. cities continue their recovery from the pandemic and inflation, New York City was expected to provide a key national test for the economic value of congestion pricing. A cost of living crisis, preparing for climate challenges, and aging infrastructure, including public transportation, all made the congestion pricing plan make sense to many.

The basics of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority plan were easy to understand: a $15 fee for daytime automobile commuters entering New York City at or below Manhattan’s 60th Street — which would have been the first of its kind in the United States — designed to fund transit system improvements with an estimated $1 billion in annual funding. The MTA estimated the toll would cut car traffic in the country’s most automobile-congested area by about 100,000 cars per day, or 17%.

In killing the latest version of that plan on Wednesday, which was set to go into effect in just weeks, current New York Governor Kathy Hochul spurned an idea she had supported as a model for cities in improving mass transit, quality of life, and environmental sustainability.